Post #112 ~ A Steam Locomotive

I love analogies!

I use analogies, similes, and metaphors a lot, mostly in my written projects but occasionally when I talk as well. Explaining situations or a certain topic is something I can find difficult at times and so if I can make a comparison it gets my thoughts across much clearer and easier. These connections I draw up are often spontaneous and can be unorthodox at the best times – I’ve been told I have a scary way with words on many occasions! With my brain being ‘wired’ in this way is why I can fire off a fast pun now and again as it uses a similar thought process.

A Steam Locomotive

And so brings in what I consider one of my most powerful analogies when describing me and my motivation; a steam locomotive (or should that be ‘loco’ motive!). A steam locomotive takes a while to get going and hit full speed but once it does it’s pretty much unstoppable! I take longer than the average person to start a task and get into the flow of it. But once I am in the flow there’s almost no stopping me!

For the most part, it’s because I like to mentally prepare myself for the task ahead and go over a few times in my head of what it is I’m doing. If the task is daunting or massive then I analyse it and see if I can break it down into smaller sections first, which adds to my slow ‘start-up.’ There are a few times where I can jump straight into a task if I feel confident in what I’m doing, especially if I have done something similar before. Certain tasks like filing which is monotonous (i.e boring) for most people is something I love because I may start off slow, but when I get going I find a rhythm and get the task done without much sanity lost. A strength of mine is when I’m focused on a task I can enter a zen mode where I block out outside interference and even channel my thoughts and get through the task seemingly easy.

I find it difficult to break concentration to change tasks – there have been times where people have talked to me and I’m not even aware or processing it! If my concentration does get broken, I can find it tricky to get back into this zone. It’s one of the reasons why I’m not a big fan of telephone calls. My bad short-term memory means that if I do have to stop there is a chance I lose momentum or even forget what it is I was doing! If that happens then I have to build up my momentum again. It can be especially challenging if my concentration gets broken on several occasions whilst on the same task as it requires a lot more focus and energy from me to complete a task after that.

This leads me to another drawback and an odd negative…

The Glass Cannon

You could say that my motivation, concentration, and confidence are very much like a glass-cannon. So when I’m on the offense I have an incredibly strong will and ‘can-do’ mentality that gets me through a challenge or task. Defensively, if it takes a somewhat significant knock then I can lose all concentration and suddenly I’m a stumbling dyspraxic who seems a bit lost.

A drawback of Dyspraxia that I haven’t touched upon yet is how it is at risk of being ‘forgotten. When it comes to a task, my Dyspraxia is more apparent when I’m starting a task than when I’m fully engrossed in it. I can find myself with minor dyspraxic moments, like dropping things and clipping my foot against the desk but generally, when my full focus is on a task, my Dyspraxia tends to do a bit of a disappearing act. It’s very difficult to notice I have problems at all when I get tasks done in good time, especially if a task plays to my strength(s).

This is when people can or tend to ‘forget’ that I still have the dyspraxia related struggles, it’s just subdued for that moment. It’s certainly clear that I am capable of accomplishing what is expected of me and even beyond that if given the opportunity to shine. My Dyspraxia is certainly something that is not consistent, especially after I’ve settled into a routine. By being settled in a routine or place of work my anxiety is cut down and with my anxiety at a more controllable level, my Dyspraxia doesn’t affect me as badly. This can lead to people becoming complacent and forget that I still have the struggles. They can also draw an expectation based on my top potential and not what I can accomplish naturally and start to scratch their heads if I’m not up to my usual par.

As I gain confidence in my ability and settle within a job or task the easier it is to reach my highest potential but there is still the matter that I can falter, after all, I am only human with dyspraxia tendencies on top of that. It’s fortunate that this drawback doesn’t come up too often and with a reminder, people understand once more. Good days and bad days are a natural occurrence for us with dyspraxia and sometimes we can have a day without any dyspraxia related accidents and other days everything just goes wrong. These vast inconsistencies confuse people, especially if there is a long string of good to average days and then suddenly a string of bad ones.

It’s all part of the fun side of dyspraxia, who knows what the next day will bring? Only yesterday morning I got a bottle (plastic) of milk out of the fridge and I got tangled up with another bottle of milk and so it slipped from my grip, the momentum carried it forwards and it fell out of the fridge, luckily I caught it. Unfortunately, the other bottle decided to follow suit and fall out as well to which I responded by dropping the bottle I had caught to rescue the other one. After catching it, it slipped from my grip and fell to the floor anyway. Luckily the bottles were half empty and so didn’t break on impact and by ‘saving’ both of them mid-flight it softened the drop.

Tying up the post

A few months back I found a spark and a huge amount of energy, which inspired me to write several posts. This post marks the last of all my preplanned posts and while I have some other ideas in the pipeline I’m going to hold back on them for now and actually take a break from blogging. This post was supposed to have come out last week but distractions kept me away from uploading. There are several things outside my blog that are lined up now and by sidelining my blog for the time being it’ll be out of my mind and I won’t feel so bad for leaving it up in the air. I don’t have a set time but could well be towards the end of summer, I’ll see how things go.

Thanks for sticking with Dyspraxic Fantastic and all its weirdness! It has been an unusual spell, to say the least! I should still be around to answer questions and respond to your messages, just won’t be uploading any new content for a while. Take care and see you next post!